Autumn Feast - Charlie Richards Page 0,22
was for him.
“If this guy is like us, he could have gotten to Roark easily enough. He had more than one opportunity to hurt the people here, yet he didn’t. I think he just wanted to prank Roark or something like that, and he didn’t realize that the party wasn’t for him.”
Griffith leaned against Lawrence, who wrapped an arm around him. “Life with you guys is never boring, that’s for sure.” He kissed Lawrence’s cheek, doing his best to avoid ruining the snake make-up he’d decided would do as a Halloween costume.
“You should have suspected that when you learned who we are and what we do.”
“I wouldn’t change my life for anything in the world.” Griffith needed Lawrence to know that. He knew that his mate still wondered sometimes, because of what had been done to him, because of the venom in his system, but they’d found a way around it, and life was good.
“Hi.”
Griffith smiled at Tay, who was hovering in front of him and Lawrence. He was wearing a dress, his hair was up, and his eyes were beautifully made up with eyeliner and glitter. His smile was tentative, though, and Griffith hated that. He wanted Tay—and all the other kids—to feel comfortable, especially at the shelter. “What’s up? Are you enjoying yourself?”
Tay’s gaze moved from Griffith to Lawrence, then back to Griffith. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”
“Well, Lawrence isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my mate.”
Tay’s eyes widened. “So he’s a shifter?”
“Yes, and he’s right there. You can talk to him, you know.”
Tay’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to Lawrence. “I’m a boy.”
“Me, too,” Lawrence said, not missing a beat.
“I’m not dressed like this because of the party. Well, yes, I am, but not because it’s a Halloween party. I wanted to look pretty.”
“And you do, very much so.”
Tay blinked. He’d probably expected Lawrence to tell him boys shouldn’t dress the way he was, and he was obviously surprised that wasn’t the answer he’d gotten. “Thank you?” he squeaked, making it sound like a question.
Lawrence’s smile softened. “You’re welcome. And you do look pretty. Are you enjoying yourself?”
Tay looked around the room. “Yes. I—we didn’t expect this. I mean, we knew about the party, obviously, but we thought it was going to be a few pizzas and a scary movie or something.”
“That’s why we did it. You guys deserve to have fun. I know everyone here does what they can, including me, but we thought you could use a break, some fun before going back to your everyday life. You are having fun, right?”
“Of course we are! The decorations are awesome, and you guys have the best costumes. And the food. It’s so good. I can’t stop eating it. Thank you for everything.”
Griffith wanted to hug Tay, but he knew better than to try touching any of the kids. “You’re welcome. Now, why don’t you go have fun? Just, leave me a few of those cupcakes, yeah?” Graham would be happy to know his food was being enjoyed just as much as it usually was. He’d worked hard today, and he still was, hidden away in the kitchen, where he was making sure the food was brought out in waves rather than all dumped at once on the tables they’d managed to fit in the living room after pushing the furniture against the walls.
The grin on Tay’s face hurt to see, but in a good way. Tay, like all the other kids in the shelter, deserved to be smiling like that every day for the rest of their lives. Griffith and the others did what they could, but the best solution would be to find families for the kids, people who would give them a home and the love they needed. Griffith couldn’t help with that, but he could help with making them as happy as possible in this situation, and now that he’d found Lawrence and his family, he knew he wouldn’t be the only one. Those who’d helped with the party had been touched by the kids’ stories, and Griffith knew the shelter had just earned a bunch of volunteers, and probably a whole lot of money.
The Halloween party had served more than one purpose, even with the guy trying to sabotage it.
About the Catherine Lievens
Catherine lives in Italy, country of good food and hot men. She used to write fantasy as a child, but it was reading her first gay erotic romance novel that made her realize that that was what she really wanted